Apple Slices and Headphones
by SweetWaterBaby
Summary: Sometimes Peter forgets just how much the spider bite changed him. Spider-man Homecoming
1. Metabolism

Peter woke to the sound of his alarm blaring and thought about shattering his phone to get the sharp noise to stop. He let out a groan and swung his legs over the side of the bed, ignoring how heavy his legs felt, grabbing a pair of pants and a t-shirt off the floor as he stood. His vision blurred and he steadied himself on his desk before he dressed quickly, rushing to the bathroom to brush his teeth before going to the kitchen. He grabbed an apple and the note that May had left him, telling him to have fun at the tower. He grabbed his bag and smiled as he bit into the apple, nearly sprinting down the stairs. He had woken up on time today, but he wanted to make sure that Happy didn't have to wait.

He skidded to a stop at the bottom of the stairs and threw the core of the apple into the garbage can that sat in the landing at the end of the stairs. He opened the doors and went to sit on the steps when he glanced up and saw Happy already waiting. He jogged the last few feet to the car and slid into the backseat. Happy mumbled a hello before driving off and heading to the tower. Peter knew by now not to talk too much, Happy wasn't used to an overactive teenager yet. He plugged his headphones into his phone and started listening to music and hid his look of sadness when he saw Happy sigh happily.

He knew that he could be a bit much sometimes, but surely, he wasn't that hard to listen too. He leaned his head against the window and watched the cars speed by. He knew that he had a bit until they would get to the tower, so he let himself drift off to his music and the cars speeding past. He opened his eyes groggily when he felt the car roll to a stop and took out his headphones. He thanked Happy, hearing a grunt in response as he jumped out of the car and headed to the main entrance.

He felt a grin come over his face as he walked towards the private elevator that Mr. Stark had instructed him to use. He swiped his pass and grinned even wider when Friday greeted him with a cheerful hello. He got in and before he could even speak, the elevator was already moving. He knew that Friday would take him to wherever Mr. Stark was so he took a minute to relax as the elevator moved upwards. He closed his eyes and let out a sigh. He had been more tired recently and he didn't understand why. He hadn't changed anything about his routines, so he didn't understand why it felt like the most intense task to just get out of the bed.

He opened his eyes as the elevator rolled to a stop and the doors opened on the floor that held Mr. Starks private lab. He walked down the hallway until he got to the door of the lab, swiping his card and pushing the door open. He heard the familiar rock music as he walked over to where Mr. Stark was set up and tapped him on the shoulder, letting out a laugh when his mentor swore and jumped, spinning in his chair to face Peter.

"Jeez Pete, a little warning would be nice" Mr. Stark wheezed out.

He couldn't help but let out another round of laughter at the look on Mr. Starks face, ducking when his mentor swiped at his head. He stopped laughing and walked over to his workstation, where the new formula that for his webs was still sitting. He sat down and looked over the work he had done the last time he was in the lab and began mixing chemicals to try and create a web that was stronger. He had started coming across stronger bad guys, and after the second time of someone breaking out of his webbing, he had decided that he needed to upgrade.

Stronger, more intense villains were starting to come after him ever since news got out about him taking down the Vulture. They thought that they could take him out and then they would have free reign over Queens, but even if they managed to take him out, they would still have Iron Man to deal with because he had learned that the man was a bit overprotective when it came to him. He knew that Mr. Stark was doing some upgrades to his suit because he was scared that one of these new villains would come after him and the suit wouldn't be enough to protect him. He had tried to tell Mr. Stark that the suit was fine, he just needed to make the webs a little stronger, but the man hadn't listened, just waved him off with a sure kid, as he started to plan.

He didn't know how long they had been in the lab, only looking up from his work once he figured out the formula. He twisted in his chair, cracking his back and winced when he heard his stomach growl again. It had been growling for a bit, but he had been so close to finishing the formula that he figured eating could wait. He regretted that decision when he stood up and his vision swam. He grabbed at the table but missed and all he could think was _this sucks_ before he blacked out.

When he came to, Mr. Stark was leaning over him with a worried expression on his face. "Mr. Stark, what happened," he slurred. He was not expecting the angry look that flew across his mentor's face, before the worried one came back.

"Friday said you're hypoglycemic, kid have you eaten today?" Worry was written all over his mentor's face, and he winced when he realized that all he had eaten was an apple this morning.

"I had an apple before Happy came" he said. His eyes widened when Mr. Stark cursed and stood abruptly.

"Kid it's 7:00, a normal teenager needs to eat more than an apple a day, but you need ten times that. C'mon let's go get some food in you." Mr. Stark pulled him to his feet and led the way to the kitchen.

He sometimes forgot just how much the spider bite changed him. It was hard to keep up with all the new powers and abilities and weird things that happened to his body. He forgot that his metabolism was super-fast, and he forgot that he needed to eat more. He didn't think he would ever get used to the things that had changed because of the spider, but he could remember to eat because he didn't want to see the man that he saw as a father to look at him with that much worry because of something so simple ever again.


	2. Healing Factor

Peter wanted to die. He wished that he could say that he was an expert on his healing ability and knew how it worked, but all he knew was that he could take more hits. He didn't know how fast he healed, he didn't know if he could still get sick, he didn't know a lot about his healing. What he currently knew was that he had taken a lot of hits during the fight with a group of robbers. He knew that his ribs were broken, knew that it felt like someone was raking a knife through his lungs, knew that if he twisted the wrong way his vision would go white and he would stumble blindly, hoping that he was dodging the next hit.

He also knew that Karen was trying to tell him something, probably how to get out, but he couldn't focus long enough on her voice before the robbers were on him again. Everything was too much and he wanted to get out, but he could barely force himself to dodge hits let alone subdue the criminals and escape. He had his powers for almost a year and had been spider-man for almost as long, but this was the first time that he was scared he may not make it out of a battle. He could barely focus on anything and he didn't know what to do. Before he had taken the hit to his torso, he had webbed up two of the robbers. He knew there were two more somewhere in the bank. He ducked behind a column and took a minute to breathe. He could do this, he was spider-man and there were hostages who were sitting in the lobby scared out of their minds and they couldn't fight back. Not like he could so he swung back out and spotted the robbers hiding like he had. He ran, dodging bullets and webbed them both to the columns feeling a bullet rip past him grazing his arm.

He walked to the hostages and untied them, sending them out to the waiting cops and stumbled towards the back entrance. He knew that the people of Queens appreciated him, and he knew that most civilians loved him, but he wasn't too sure about the cops. Ever since the Daily Bugle started publishing pieces about him the cops didn't seem too keen on him anymore. He knew that he was technically a vigilante, but everyone generally called him a superhero, so the animosity from the cops stung a little.

He shook his head putting his hand on the wall, sliding it as he walked to keep his balance. He was pretty sure he had taken a hit to the head at some point in the fight because his head was fuzzy and thinking for too long about anything made his head throb. He pushed open the door and flinched back at how bright it was reaching up to cover his eyes. He walked forwards, sighing in relief when the sun disappeared, replaced by the darkness of the alleyway he had found himself in. He heard the door slam behind him and flinched at the sound before looking up. The building next to the bank was tall enough for him to swing off so he could get home. He knew that swinging was going to suck with how badly his ribs were twinging uncomfortably with every move he made and considered just sitting and waiting on the roof before trying to make his way home.

He looked at his arm where the bullet had grazed him and it was almost healed, so he figured he would be fine if he left it alone. He knew that small cuts and grazes healed in a few minutes. He knew that being shot took at least a day. He knew that broken bones only took a few hours, but they hurt like a bitch the entire time and he knew that painkillers didn't even make a dent in his metabolism, so he was just gonna need to wait out the ribs. He started the slow crawl up the wall, wincing with every move before he made it to the roof. He knew that May got home around eight and looked at his phone hoping it was only four or five so he could wait until his ribs healed. He almost screamed when he saw that it was seven-thirty, cursing his luck as he started crawling faster.

He had ended up a little further from his apartment than he usually patrolled when Karen alerted him to the robbery in progress. He needed to swing fast if he wanted to beat May home with enough time to clean up. Even though May knew what he did now, he didn't want her to see him covered in dust, dried blood, and sweat. He got to the top of the building and without letting himself think about it he started running and leapt off the building. He flailed in the air for a second as he tried to power through the pain, shooting out a web and beginning the swing home.

He was gasping by the time he got home. He landed on the roof and crawled down, changing back into his normal clothes, grabbing his backpack as he jogged to the front of the building. He wanted to cry he was in so much pain and almost let himself when the doors to the elevator closed. He checked his phone and saw it was seven-forty-five and cracked a small smile. He walked out of the elevators and unlocked the front door, walking to his room and he thought about collapsing on the bed and passing out, but knew that May would be worried if he was sleeping that early.

He slung his backpack into the corner of his room and grabbed a change of clothes before going to the bathroom. When he took off his shirt and finally looked at his chest, he balked at how bad it looked. There were bruises littered across the entirety of his chest and he distantly thought that these might take longer to heal than just a few hours. He hopped in the shower and despite wanting nothing more than a nice hot shower, he knew that cold was better to help with his ribs. He let out a gasp as the cold water hit his back and felt his entire body tense for a second. He grabbed a rag and gripped it to keep from screaming, he didn't want to deal with the questions from the neighbors.

When he finished his shower, he changed and threw his clothes into his room before going to the living room, turning the TV on to a random movie. He felt his eyes glaze over as he watched the movie, waiting for May to get home when his phone dinged with a message. He almost laughed when he read the message from May. She was pulling a double and wouldn't be home until early in the morning. He wanted to laugh, scream or cry and he couldn't decide which one to do, so a weird mix of the three spilled out from him. He turned off the TV and walked back to his room, falling on his bed and promptly passed out.

When he woke up, he thought that he would be fine, but he felt worse. Every breath he took felt like he was taking them through a straw. His chest spasmed with pain every few minutes and he didn't know what to do. He didn't know much about how he healed, but he knew that usually a broken bone would be healed by now. He looked at his phone and groaned when he saw that it was almost noon. It was Saturday and on Saturday's Happy picked him up and took him to the tower. He grabbed a hoodie, refusing to look down at his chest and a pair of jeans, dressing quickly. He grabbed his headphones and headed downstairs.

The ride to the tower was silent and he noticed Happy looking at him with confusion and concern. When they got to the tower, Mr. Stark was waiting, which was strange because usually he just went up the elevator and met him in the lab. He slowly got out of the car, slipping out his headphones at the same time.

"He-Hey Mr. Stark. What are, what are you doing down here?" He tilted his head in confusion and walked towards the man.

"Happy said it seemed like you weren't feeling so good, so I thought we'd watch a movie or something, whaddya say kid?"

"If that's okay with you, that sounds awesome!" Even though he felt like he was dying, he was excited. He was getting closer to the man, but they were always in the lab, so it would be nice to just sit and watch something with him.

Mr. Stark grabbed him by the shoulder and roughly pulled him close to him, bumping his shoulder against his. Normally he would laugh and push the older man away, but instead he felt his ribs explode in pain. His body locked up and his eyes rolled back into his head and he heard Mr. Stark yell his name as he fell.

He expected to wake up in pain lying on the concrete outside of the tower. He did not expect to wake up to a beeping noise and no pain. He blearily opened his eyes and looked around, noting that he was laying in a hospital bed. He saw his mentor sitting next to his bed, fiddling with a hologram model of his suit.

"Hey," he tried to say. His throat was drier than he thought it would be and he coughed. When he was done coughing, he looked up to see that his mentor holding a glass of water out. He grabbed it and started drinking when his mentor started to talk.

"I swear you're givin me grey hairs kiddo. When you passed out, I damn near had a panic attack before Happy snapped me out of it. I grabbed you and ran up to medical where you had an emergency surgery. Yesterday during that robbery you stopped, one of them got a lucky hit in and broke the first rib on your left side, which due to some bad luck, caused a piece to fracture off and pierce your lung.

"Thanks to your enhanced healing you didn't die while you slept. Your lung healed around the bone, but this caused I'm assuming massive amount of pain, but honestly kid, you're lucky you're not dead" Mr. Stark rubbed a hand down his face.

"What I want to know, is why you didn't tell me about this?"

"I, well, I didn't think it was that bad?"

"You're kidding me, right? Helen said the amount of pain you were in had to be insane, and you want me to believe that you didn't think it was that bad? And why didn't Karen tell me?"

"Well to be fair, I thought I just broke my ribs. The pain wasn't even too bad until this morning." Peter was twisting his hands anxiously. He had a pretty good idea now what Karen was trying to tell him during the robbery. "And I think Karen was trying to ask if I wanted to tell you, but I kinda couldn't hear her because I may, or may not have been concussed?" He looked at his mentor and would have laughed if he weren't in a hospital bed after having emergency surgery.

"I'm changing her code again. Anytime you get a life-threatening injury, Karen is going to alert me regardless of what you want. I have a heart condition you know?"

Peter couldn't help but let out a laugh at that, smiling when he saw a small smile creep onto his mentor's face. He really needed to make a list of what his abilities could do, maybe then he could stop worrying Mr. Stark, but for now, he was content to laugh at his mentor and how protective he was.


	3. Agility and Balance

He knew it was going to be a bad day from the second he woke up. When we woke up to the sound of his alarm and rolled over to turn it off, he wasn't expecting the notification from Ned to be there. He wasn't expecting the notification to be a message from Ned telling him that he wasn't going to be at school that day. He groaned when he read it and begrudgingly got out of bed. He scrubbed a hand down his face in frustration before typing a message back to Ned telling him to feel better. He knew Ned didn't choose to get sick, but he didn't have any other real friends at school. He had always kind of stuck to himself, but on days like this he regretted it.

He let out a huff of frustration when he thought about dealing with Flash on his own. He knew that Flash was always worse to deal with when Ned was out sick. Flash wasn't exactly the biggest guy out there either, so it was easier to get physical on days when one of them was out sick. Ned hadn't gotten sick since Peter had been sick and he was nervous. He didn't always have the best grip on his powers when he was upset. His hands were shaking when he stood up and he took a deep breath to try and settle his nerves. He got ready for school, anxiety making his movements slow, and grabbed an apple on his way out of the door, plugging his headphones in.

The entire trip to school was filled with thoughts of how he could avoid Flash and what he could do if he was confronted. He couldn't swing back; he didn't want to hurt Flash despite everything Flash had done in the past and he knew that he was strong enough to really hurt him. He sighed and turned his music up, letting the music drown out his thoughts.

By the time lunch rolled around, he thought that maybe he really had been overreacting because he hadn't even seen Flash yet. Maybe his infamously bad luck was finally turning around, maybe Flash was sick too. He was enjoying his lunch and texting Ned when he started to feel anxious again. He didn't know what the issue was quite yet, but he knew that something was wrong. His hand dropped to his thigh, fingers tapping in a familiar pattern. He took a deep breath and grabbed his trash, walking to throw it away when he felt the back of his neck tingle.

He usually had a good control on his powers, he usually stopped himself from reacting to his spidey sense as Mr. Stark had dubbed it. He tried to ignore it because before the bite he got into a lot of fights with Flash and he always lost, and he always got snuck up on. He also knew that if he were to react, he would probably react in the same way he did as Spider-man and Peter Parker couldn't do back-flips. Him doing back-flips would be the first thing that would lead to people knowing he was Spider-man and that was the last thing that he wanted. He usually had really good control over his reactions, but with how anxious and stressed he had been the entire day, his body reacted before he could even think.

He dropped his trash, flipping away from whatever the danger was, landing in a crouch. He looked up at to see who had tried to attack him and wasn't shocked to see Flash. He was, however, shocked to see that Flash had tripped over his feet and had landed on his trash. He was so screwed.

"What the hell Penis!"

He was so beyond screwed. He saw that Flash's shirt was stained from his trash and he sucked in a breath. He also saw the anger in Flash's eyes and winced when he saw his bully rush forward. He knew that this beating was going to suck even more than any of the other times Flash had fought him because this time he had embarrassed the bully. He knew that he would have to let Flash hit him, but his body was so strung out from the anxiety that he didn't seem to have any control of his actions. When Flash got close enough, he swung out a foot and tripped the other boy before falling back only to jump to his feet in one motion.

He heard Flash growl as the boy stood and turned to face him. He gulped when he saw the rage that was written all over his bully's face. He saw the fist coming from a mile away and dodged to the left, spinning on his foot before Flash swung out again. He grabbed the boy's fist and using it as a point of balance so he could flip over the bully. He rolled and popped up turning to watch as Flash stumbled forwards. He couldn't help the snicker that escaped before he pressed his mouth into a thin line.

He saw the other boy turn and face him. This was the angriest he had ever seen Flash and he knew that at this point he couldn't let the boy land a punch. He figured he was already sealing his fate and knew that the rest of his high school life was going to be hell, so what the hell, he might as well win one fight. He was going to be smart about it though, he needed to let Flash get the first hit in, that way he could claim whatever happened after that was self-defense. He smirked as he looked at his bully and waited for the boy to run at him again.

He didn't have to wait long before the boy took his bait and ran at him. He let Flash fire off a shot to his face, ignoring his senses all screaming at him to dodge and winced in pain when he felt the punch connect with his eye. That was definitely gonna bruise and he almost got hit again while he was focused on the pain in his eye, before he bent backwards to avoid the second punch. He let himself fall and caught himself with his hands, body forming a bridge before he could slam into the ground. He leaned further into his arms and kicked up at Flash, feet connecting with the bully's stomach. He drew his feet back and twisted, contorting his body before jumping up, hands held protectively in front of his face.

He wanted to laugh as he saw the boy on the ground groaning in pain, but he held back instead waiting for the boy to get up and run at him again. That never happened; instead he felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see a teacher staring at him with disappointment. He groaned and let his fists fall, his day had just started to turn around, but with his luck it was getting worse again.

He was sitting in silence, ice pack held against his eye. He was trying to ignore Flash who was glaring at him from his seat next to him in the principal's office. They were waiting on their guardians to show up so they could talk about what happened and the punishments they would get. He hung his head in shame thinking about how his aunt and him couldn't afford for her to leave work because he got into a fight. He didn't even know if she would be able to get off to come down and he was dreading facing both Flash and the boy's parents in front of the principle.

His head snapped up when he heard heels clacking on the tile. He watched a frenzied woman rush over to Flash and start coddling the boy. He flinched back in his chair when he saw the woman glare at him. He heard the door to the office open again and hung his head down, not ready to face his aunt. He heard the principle clear his throat and say that they could get started. Peter chanced a look towards Flash and his bully's mother and felt his eyebrows furrow in confusion at the look of shock in both of their eyes.

He turned to his left and felt his mouth drop open in shock when he saw his mentor standing there. "Mr. Stark, what are, what are you doing here?" he managed to stutter out. He saw his mentor shoot him a confused look.

"Did your aunt forget to tell you that she made me your secondary contact? She was worried that if something happened, she wouldn't be able to make it down here so she asked if I would mind being a contact for you kiddo." His mentor smiled at him, placing a protective hand on his shoulder. "Now, what's this I hear about a fight?"

The principle explained the situation and said that since they both hit the other, and it was unclear on who started the fight, they would be both be suspended for three days. He went to protest but was cut off by Flash's mother.

"That boy deserves longer than a week! He hurt my baby and according to his friends, this degenerate hit first! My baby was just defending himself!" He went to defend himself again when he saw Flash smirk but was cut off by his mentor squeezing his shoulder.

"If I may interject, Mr. Morita, I had some time on my way over to look into the situation and several of your students have posted videos of the incident and those videos show that Flash? Wow really? Who names their kid Flash," Peter elbowed his mentor, who looked at him before continuing "Anyways, Flash here started the altercation. Pete was just defending himself. If either of these boys deserve to be suspended longer it's the other kid." His mentor smiled down at him before looking expectantly at the principle.

"Well, I guess if that's true, then yes, whoever started the fight should receive a longer punishment."

Flash's mother tried to protest but the Mr. Morita raised a hand to silence her.

"Enough, Mr. Thompson is suspended for a week, Mr. Parker is suspended for three days. See to it that you boys don't find yourselves back in here again."

His mentor pulled him to his feet and all but dragged him out of the office. They started walking and Peter saw Happy's car waiting out front. They got into the back seat and Peter was silent, he knew a lecture was coming and he wasn't going to jump-start it by speaking first.

"You can relax kid, I'm not gonna lecture you, you didn't do anything wrong, you were defending yourself from a bully. I'm proud of you honestly." He felt his head snap up as he stared at his mentor in shock. He had expected to be yelled at for using his powers for a high school fight.

"I do have to say I didn't know you were that flexible. I've never actually seen you fight. Were you always able to fold yourself in half?" His mentor smiled teasingly at him and he let out a laugh and found he couldn't stop. He heard his mentor join in and felt the man playfully mess up his hair.

His day wasn't so bad after all.


	4. Sensory Overload

Peter was half asleep, daydreaming instead of paying attention to the lecture. He already knew what Mr. Harrington was teaching; Mr. Stark had taught him everything about the subject months ago. He wondered if Mr. Stark was right all along and if he should have just skipped his last few years of high school and jumped to college because he was so bored in every class. Every class just felt like a waste of time. He was almost fully asleep, head leaning on his hand when Ned smacked him causing his arm to fall. He almost hit his head on the desk but caught himself at the last second. He looked over at Ned who smiled and shrugged, pointing at Mr. Harrington.

The teachers usual monotone teaching voice had changed, and he smiled at the class telling them that he had an exciting announcement. He waited for the class to settle down and once they did, he told them that they would be going on a field trip and not just any old field trip, they would be taking a trip to Stark Tower. This time Peter didn't even try to stop his head from hitting the desk, letting out a groan as he wondered what he did in a past life to deserve the luck that he had. He twisted his head to look at his friend but only groaned further when he saw Ned laughing at him. He was screwed.

When the bell rung, he drug his feet walking up to Mr. Harrington's desk, briefly entertaining the thought of walking out of class without grabbing a permission slip. He knew that Ned would kill him though; his best friend had been asking him for a while to come to the tower and see some of the stuff that he was working on. He was trying, he really was, but it seemed like every time him and Mr. Stark set up a day for Ned to come over, some new villain would attack the city and they would have to reschedule. If Ned had already come over, he would've skipped without a second thought, but he wanted to be there to see his best friends face when he walked into the tower.

He watched Ned's face light up when he grabbed a permission slip and tried to smile at him in return, but he was pretty sure he only managed a grimace. They walked towards their lockers, Ned chattering the entire way about how cool the field trip was going to be, but all he could think about was how absolutely screwed he was. He knew that Mr. Stark would be at the tower that day because their field trip was on a Friday and his mentor was always at the tower on Friday because he went to the tower after school that day. He also knew that the other interns were going to give him hell for going on a tour of the place he worked. He had made friends with a lot of the interns and they all joked around with him like he was their little brother. He was also pretty sure most of the interns and employees thought he was Mr. Stark's kid since all of them called him Jr which was going to be pretty hard to explain to his classmates if that happened. There was also the question of how his classmates would react to his clearance level, which was much higher than an intern usually had.

Suffice to say, he was so not looking forward to the field trip.

When Friday came, he couldn't tell whether he was more relieved or anxious. The entire week leading up to the field trip was filled with taunts from Flash and his goons. Peter couldn't tell if Flash was more excited about going to Stark Tower for the first time or proving him wrong. There was also the problem of his aunt. She had cackled when he sheepishly handed her the permission slip and he swore that his aunt and his mentor were planning something. His aunt was texting someone a lot and that was suspicious because his aunt was an old soul and preferred phone calls to texting which meant she was hiding something from him. He had also noticed Mr. Stark's name popped up on his aunts phone when they were watching a movie one day.

He groaned as he slowly climbed onto the bus. He was trying his hardest to be cheerful today because Ned was so excited, and he couldn't stand the thought of disappointing his best friend. He forced a smile onto his face as Ned started talking about all the things that they might get to see on the trip. The smile became less forced the longer he listened to Ned talk and he briefly entertained the thought that he might not be anxious at all by the time they reached the tower because it was a long trip and Ned was bound to talk the entire trip.

"Hey Penis" Flash yelled, "are you excited for everyone to see how pathetic you really are? Its gonna be hard to keep up all the lies when no one there knows who you are." The smile slipped from Peter's face as a few people on the bus snickered and he saw Ned frown. The only reason that he was on the trip in the first place was to see how happy Ned was and now his friend was upset.

He was about to retort when MJ beat him to it.

"With how often the word penis passes your lips you would think you would know what a dick was. No one cares Flash." She rolled her eyes and went back to reading as the bus went silent save for the sounds of Flash sputtering.

Gradually the class resumed talking as Peter mouthed thank you at MJ who only rolled her eyes again.

When the bus finally stopped outside of Stark Tower, everyone rushed off except for him. He had seen the tower so many times that he was used to it. He couldn't deny that it was beautiful, but he was used to seeing it and took his time coming of the bus, trying to calm his anxiety. His class walked as fast as was socially acceptable only stopping when they reached the lobby. They didn't have much time to gape at the lobby before a tour guide approached them.

"Good morning Midtown! My name is Thea and I'll be your guide today. I hope you're all excited to see what Stark Industries has to offer. Since you guys are a technology school, we'll mainly be touring the R&D labs today, but every tour includes stops on the museum floors. We have two museum floors, one dedicated to the history of Stark Industries and one for the history of the Avengers. You guys are going to be receiving guest passes that will allow you all access to whatever floor I am on. They are linked to my pass so make sure you stay with the group, no wandering off. They passes will be deactivated at the end of the tour, and you guys are free to keep them! Make sure you keep the pass fully visible at all times. Mr. Stark's AI watches every move in this tower and is constantly checking the badges, say hi Friday!"

"Hello Midtown, I hope you all enjoy your tour."

Peter stifled a laugh as a good portion of the class jumped at hearing Friday's voice. He watched as the tour guide called out names and everyone walked up to get a badge. He expected to hear his name, but he never did, and he felt his stomach twist with anxiety. If he didn't get a guest badge, he would have to use his badge and he knew that Friday announced all the badges.

"Alright now that everyone has a badge-"

"Excuse me miss, one of my students didn't get a badge. Peter Parker?"

He felt his face flush as his entire class turned to face him including the tour guide. She looked down at her list and scanned until she found his name.

"Oh, well it says that he already has a badge, so problem solved! If you guys could follow me, you'll need to swipe your badge and then we'll get started on the tour."

She started walking towards the scanner and his class stopped staring at him, Flash giving him a dirty look before he pushed his way to the front of the group. She swiped her badge, Friday's voice ringing out in the lobby.

"Thea Ramsey, Gamma 4, clearance: Senior Intern and Tour Guide"

His class looked at her in awe, one of them raising their hand.

"What do the levels and clearance mean?"

"That's a good question! There are four main classifications; Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta. Delta is for guests, press, and our cleaning staff. Gamma is for interns. Delta is for the lab supervisors and high-ranking members of Stark Industries. Alpha is for Mr. Stark, Miss. Potts, the Avengers, and a few other trusted members of Tony Stark's inner circle. The number that follows the classifications indicate how much access you have to the tower. 1 is the lowest level and it goes to level 5. I have level 4 because I'm a tour guide and need access to labs that are outside of my area of focus. The clearance simply tells what you are."

His class nodded and he felt his anxiety get even worse. He knew that Friday had a different tone when talking to him and it would be noticed by everyone. He felt his palms start sweating and wished he had decided to just stay home. He watched as his class went through the scanner and thought about turning around and just sitting on the bus as Ned went through. He swiped his badge and winced when Friday's voice rang out.

"Peter Parker, Alpha 5, clearance: classified. Hello Peter, you're back early, not skipping school, are we?"

"N-no Friday, I'm on a tour with my class" he mumbled out. He loved Friday, but today he wished that she had spoken to him with the same removed tone as the rest of his class. Her teasing tone didn't escape the notice of his class who was looking at him in shock.

"Very well Peter, would you like me to notify boss of your arrival?"

"NO! I mean no, that won't be necessary Fri."

"I'm sorry Peter, as part of the superheroes know best protocol he has already been notified."

He could hear the sorrow in her voice, but it didn't do much for his anxiety. His anxiety had been rising since he had learned about the trip and he didn't know how much more he could take. The tour guide cleared her throat and gathered the attention of the class who was gawking at him.

"Okay, right this way!"

The tour continued without any excitement until they reached the intern labs for chemistry departments. He knew that the chemistry interns had been working for almost a week straight to finish their final projects. Sleep deprivation and chemistry experiments didn't mix well. He knew that better than anyone after the incident in his mentors lab when he tried to mix a new web formula on less than an hour of sleep over the course of five days. His mentor still wouldn't let him live that incident down. There was even a picture of him stuck to the wall with webs, a sad expression on his face that his mentor had compared to a puppy.

He watched an intern pour a mix of chemicals into a beaker over a flame and felt his senses go haywire. His eyes widened and he tackled Ned to the ground as the beaker exploded. Flaming pieces of glass flew everywhere as a fireball consumed the worktable, papers going up in flames. Sirens blared and lights started flashing as he pushed himself up, grabbing for Ned who sat up as well. His senses which had already been on high alert for whatever his aunt and his mentor were planning, exploded.

His slammed his hands over his ears, trying his best to block out the sirens and moaned as his eyes slipped shut. He could still hear everything. He heard the cars on the street below, he heard the conference that was happening on floor 83, he heard the screeching of the elevators. He heard someone screaming and realized belatedly that he was the one who was screaming.

He felt hands on his arms, trying to pry his hands off his ears and thought about decking whoever was touching him. He would have if he didn't have to take his hands off his ears. He just wanted it to stop. There was just too much noise, too much, too mu-

"PETER!"

His eyes flew open and darted around wildly, finally landing on his mentors face. He looked down and saw the noise-cancelling headphones that his mentor had made specifically for his sensory overloads. He watched as Mr. Stark mouthed to him what the plan was and nodded.

He wrenched his hands off his ears and almost sobbed at how loud everything was before the headphones were smoothly slid onto his ears. He felt his body slump and winced when flashing lights hit his eyes before blackout glasses were slid over his eyes. He could still hear faintly even with the headphones, but it was a million times better than when he didn't have them on. He heard his mentor tell his teacher that he was going to be taking him, and he felt himself get picked up. His mentor didn't wait for a reply before he started walking and he felt a small smile come over his face as he heard the man tell him to rest before he passed out.

Field trips were still the worst but being carried to his room wasn't the worst thing to happen.


	5. Strength

Peter couldn't believe his luck. He was only fifteen, he was supposed to be staying out past curfew and going on dates and hanging out with his best friends. He was not supposed to be hyperventilating under the rubble of another destroyed warehouse.

It was supposed to be a simple training exercise.

The Avengers had accepted him as soon as they saw him. Mr. Stark told him that there was something about him that made people want to protect him. He had wrinkled his nose at that statement, but he could understand where the man was coming from. Most people treated him like a puppy.

The Avengers had convinced Mr. Stark to share him every other weekend and so every other weekend he would go up to the Avengers compound with Mr. Stark to train with the rest of the team so that when he was old enough, he could join the Avengers full time. He knew that Mr. Stark didn't like that, but he wanted to join, he wanted to help save the world with the rest of the superheroes. He knew that he was young, but he was more than capable and once he got a little bit older, he would be even more capable, it was just a matter of convincing his mentor of that fact.

The previous weekend he had spent with Mr. Stark in the lab at the tower. They spent the entire weekend working on the different projects that they had in progress. He loved spending time at the tower, working in the lab with his mentor listening to the man's favorite music as they built until Pepper came down and dragged themselves upstairs to eat dinner ignoring their protests that they had had apple slices and other snacks Once Pepper came and got them, they were usually banned from going back down to the lab until the next morning. Instead of staying up the entire night working, they would eat dinner with Pepper and watch movies before going to bed and doing the same thing the next day. He wouldn't trade his days at the tower for anything.

The being said, he couldn't help but bounce in his seat on the trip to the Avenger's compound. He also couldn't help the enormous grin as his mentor told him about the small mission they would be going on again. It was a simple mission to an old Hydra base that had been abandoned many years ago when the Captain had crashed the plane and he had already been debriefed, but his mentor worried so he cheerfully sat through the explanation again.

It was only going to be him, Mr. Stark, the Captain, and the Black Widow going. The debriefing that he sat through said that this was a mission to recover intelligence from the abandoned base. They had gotten a tip that the base still had important documents about the testing and experiments done on the Winter Solider; only he wasn't supposed to call him that anymore. The reason that Mr. Stark asked him to come was so that he could go on a mission and get used to working in a team format. He was so used to being a solo crime fighter and he knew that before he could ever officially join the Avengers he needed to learn how to actually work with a team.

He couldn't help the nervous shaking of his legs as they pulled up to the compound. He knew that nothing bad was going to happen, but for some reason his anxiety was higher than it usually was. He decided to write off the anxiety as pre-mission jitters and shook his head as he got out of the car. He started walking towards the locker rooms to change into his suit, walking slower than he normally would so that Mr. Stark could keep up. He felt his anxiety surge through him again when he looked at himself in the mirror after he was in his suit. This was a normal recovery mission, the team did stuff like this all the time, usually only in groups of two, but he couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.

When he walked up to the jet that they were taking to get to the base he only saw his mentor waiting and walked up to the man, confusion written across his face.

"They're already on the plane kiddo, I just wanted to talk to you before we head out. I wanted to give you a few rules, just for this mission, and only because its your first one with the team back together again. I want you to stay by me, okay kid? I'm your mentor, not them, so if anything happens to you, that's on me."

"Of course, Mr. Stark, I'll stay close to you."

"Jesus kid, how many times have I told you to stop calming me that?"

He smirked and let out a laugh as he walked around the man and got on the jet.

The trip to the base took less time than he thought it would. He had only just calmed his nerves when they landed. He looked up at his mentor, the smallest amount of fear shining in his eyes. Mr. Stark grabbed his shoulder and nodded, and he felt the fear melt away. He could do this. He had a team behind him who would be there if he needed help and he knew that he could trust them all with his life. He stood tall, pulled on his mask and swung out of the back of the jet according to plan.

He swung to the top of the tallest tree that was nearest to the base and waited. The jet had landed a distance away from the base, just in case there were any of Hydra's men waiting for them. The plan detailed that he would swing from the jet and get as close to the base as possible as quietly as possible and let the ground team know that it was okay for them to head up on foot. Usually on these missions they would send in Tony, but the repulsors were still loud in their stealth mode whereas he was quick and quiet.

He watched trying to depict any sign of life and after a few minutes of waiting with bated breath he told the ground team that it was all clear. He heard the repulsors fire to life in the distance and watched for signs of his mentors suit. The ground team was going to go in the front while he went through the back with his mentor. They figured that having everyone searching for the documents would get them in and out quicker.

When he saw his mentor fly past, he shot out a web and swung behind him, landing on the ground after he saw the suit touch down and retract around the man. They walked slowly up to the door and after his mentor nodded once, they opened the door.

It was different than he expected. He had only really fought small criminals besides his one fight with an actual supervillain. He had never been on a mission where there wasn't someone to fight. When they opened the door, he had half expected a swarm of enemies to bust out, but that didn't happen. The door creaked open and he was met with eerie quiet and darkness. They walked forward into the dark warehouse, and he took a second for his eyes to adjust. Once they did his eyes widened. There were cracks running through the walls and floors, random papers strewn haphazardly, cobwebs attached to nearly every surface along with a fine layer of dust. With every step they took, the dust at their feet scattered before settling in another spot.

He had grown up in Queens. He was used to seeing things that were broken down, but he had never been the type of kid to explore abandoned buildings. He had never seen a place like this; abandoned, empty, quiet, despondent.

They walked slowly, careful not to disturb too much, searching the rooms that they happened across, not finding anything of use. His nerves had long since faded once he got used to feeling of the building, so when his anxiety turned up a notch, he let himself panic a little. He whipped his head from side to side, trying to find the reason for his anxiety. When he found nothing out of the ordinary, he opened his mouth, about to warn his mentor that something was wrong when they heard the comms crackle.

He could hear bits and pieces of his teammates worried shouts, every other word cutting out. He heard his mentor call out, trying to tell them that something was wrong, and they couldn't hear anything when his anxiety suddenly screamed at him to get down. He rushed forward and tackled his mentor, taking them both to the ground. He heard the man shout in shock before the first bomb went off in the distance, a second one going off only seconds after. He looked up and saw the ceiling falling and barely had time to cover his head before everything went black.

"Pete! C'mon kid answer me! Damn it kid, c'mon!"

He groaned as he felt a heavy weight on his back before he opened his eyes. He tried to turn his head but found that he could only move a few inches before he had to stop. He groaned again as he felt a weight shift on his back and blinked, trying to understand what was going on.

"Mr. Stark?"

"Oh, thank god kid, you really know how to give a man grey hair, you've been out for about 20 minutes."

"Mr. Stark? Wh-what happened? I don't understand. I don't understand why I can't move. Where are we?"

He felt himself beginning to panic and tried to recall what happened before he apparently passed out.

"There was a bomb, the ceiling collapsed, maybe the whole damn warehouse for all I know. What I do know is that you tackled me before the bomb went off and for some reason you decided that the best course of action would be to cover me with your body. You know I think I said something about being careful and letting me take the lead."

He couldn't stop himself, "Actually, Mr. Stark, the only rule you gave me was to stay close, which technically I did do."

"Christ kid, it's like you're trying to give me a full head of grey hair. Who taught you to be this cheeky, huh? My bet is on May."

"Actually Mr. Stark I learned it from you."

He laughed at the expression on his mentors face before wincing as the laughter caused the rubble resting on his back to shift. He knew that he had to stay still, knew what he had to do to get out of it. He had been through this before after all.

That thought made him pause. He had been through this before. He had been through this before and he had almost died. He couldn't do this again. He didn't even know how he had managed to lift the debris off him last time and this time there was somebody else involved too. If he made the wrong move, he could cause the rubble to fall and land on his mentor, his mentor who had retracted the suit. His mentor who was not bitten by a radioactive spider and who under the suit was an easily breakable man, a human. He felt his breaths start coming in short pants, the mask that he hadn't removed making it even harder to get a deep breath in. He couldn't do this again; he couldn't even breathe.

"-eter! Peter, c'mon kid, come back to me. Breathe with me kiddo, everything is going to be okay, we're going to get out of this."

He tried to focus on his mentors breathing and copy the man, but his mind kept going back to the last time he was in this situation. He knew logically that someone would come for them if they weren't back by their designated return time, but he was scared.

"That's it kiddo, nice and easy."

He felt his breathing return to semi-normal levels, every other breath coming out shaky and ragged.

"I-I'm sorry Mr. Stark."

"Hey, hey, there's nothing to apologize for Pete. This sucks. I'm going to be honest with you as long as you promise to try and stay calm, okay?" He nodded before the man continued, "Okay. Our comms are down, I have no idea if Cap or Nat made it out before the explosions hit and I have no idea how much rubble is on top of us, nor do I have a plan. I know that was a whole lot of negative, but there is one positive. We told the rest of the team when we would be back, so if we're not back by then, they'll come searching for us, and they know exactly where we are."

He felt himself calming down. Even though he knew everything his mentor told him, it helped to hear it from someone else, however, he knew that he could get them out. He had done it before and he could do it again, he just had to believe in himself.

"Mr. Stark, I don't think I can wait that long."

"I know kiddo, but we don't really have a choice."

"Actually, we do. It's kind of a funny story that I was totally gonna tell you, I swear!"

"Peter what the hell did you do?"

"Why do you assume I did something?"

"With you kiddo, a funny story always involves something dangerous that I probably don't wanna hear."

"You don't wanna hear it? That's great, cause like, I really didn't wanna tell you about it."

"Oh no, you're not getting out of this one kid."

"What, but Mr. Stark! You just said that you didn't wanna hear it!"

"Spill."

He gulped before he began, "Well do you remember when I fought the Vulture?" his mentor nodded, "Okay, so before he got to your plane and that whole thing happened we kinda sorta had a pre-fight fight at a warehouse, and long story short, he dropped the building on me."

"I'm sorry, he did what?"

"Dropped a building on me?"

"Jesus Christ and you're just telling me now?"

"Yes?"

"Okay, we're gonna talk about the types of things you need to tell me about later kid, but how'd you get out?"

"I kinda sorta lifted it off me?"

"You did what?"

"I lifted the building off of myself."

"Pete do you know how much a building weighs?"

"Like a lot?"

"Like a lot kid, jesus, how strong are you?"

"I dunno, I have the proportional strength of a spider."

"Christ. So, what's your plan here kid?"

"Lift the building off of us?"

"Right. Of course. He's just gonna lift the building off of us."

He snorted at the incredulous tone of his mentor before thinking back to the fight with Toomes. He believed in himself. It was the first time in a while that he had to do something without the help of an adult figure, and right now was the same. He may have had his mentor right under him, but his mentor didn't have the strength or angle to help. It was up to him.

He shifted his position, despite the pain and angled his shoulders so it was under what felt like a large piece of rubble and shoved. Nothing happened and he let his shoulders drop with a huff. He took in a deep breath and pushed up again and this time the rubble shifted up slightly and he was filled with determination. He kept pushing up until he was able to bring his legs up underneath him, one leg on either side of his mentor in a crouched position. He quickly pushed up and dropped himself lower than the rubble, shooting his hands out to catch the piece of ceiling.

He saw his mentor re-engage his suit and almost sighed in relief at the thought that even if he did drop the rubble, he wouldn't kill the man. He kept pushing up until he was standing and threw the piece of rubble to the side before he collapsed onto his knees.

"Holy shit!"

He whipped his head around and saw the Captain staring at him in shock.

"Language!"

His mentor was standing in the place where rubble used to be with a smirk on his face and he let out a laugh.

"How strong are you Queens?"

"Apparently stronger than you."

He heard his mentor let out a laugh and the rest of the tension faded.


End file.
